It’s fitting that Paramount gave a watchable but, in the end, unexceptional DVD presentation to this watchable but unexceptional Mel Gibson thriller, which was released to disappointing theatrical grosses in February. Payback appears a lot clearer on disc than it did on the big screen, but the added clarity also accentuates the annoying blue wash that cinematographer Emerson Core lays on every shot. The film-to-disc transfer is the best thing about this fairly standard disc, for the extras are far from special. Included are the film’s two theatrical trailers (the teaser holds some interest in that it bears a 1997 copyright–pointing to the production problems that delayed the film’s release) and a half-hearted, why-bother behind the scenes “featurette,” which lasts all of ten minutes at most.
